The mission of the Center is to establish practical design principles and create a design system for nanoscale ionic conductors. The work of the Center will also enhance our understanding of biological ion transport at the molecular level. The work of the Center will be informed by an understanding of four major bodies of knowledge: i) Membrane biology and biophysics, ii) Physical chemistry on the nanoscale and sub-nanoscale, iii) Principles of device engineering, iv) Nanofabrication and synthesis In a larger context the mission of the Center is to contribute to the ability of nanoscience and nanotechnology to serve biomedical research and medical diagnosis and treatment through the fabrication of sensors and devices on the nanoscale that will provide much more fine-grained information about biological systems and ability to intervene in biological systems than has hitherto been available. Our Center will make its contribution to that technology by providing design tools and actual collaboration in the ion conduction components of biomedical nanotechnology, both from the perspective of how to design ion conduction components in nanodevices and also from the perspective of understanding details of biological ion conduction. The Center has four specific aims:1) We will aim to move our current understanding of biological channels and transporters from the present level of grasping the essence of structure-function relationships to the more extreme level of being able to physically model the functioning of channels and transporters at the predictive level of precision essential for engineering design. 2) We will aim to embody the computational methods that we employ and develop into an ion transporter design portal that can serve as a computer-aided-design (CAD) system for nanoconductors. 3) We will aim to combine our knowledge of the physics of biological transport with engineering principles to do computer-aided design of nanoscale ion transporters. 4) We will aim to build working prototypes of designed nanoscale ion transporters.